Yes, I don't want to go too old, probably '90s. I was looking at a Boss Dr-220A, I thought the sounds were great in demos, but then when I asked the question "Yeah, that kit sounds good... but what other sounds does it do?" and then found out, there is just one kit... and that's it. The reason I'd like to use more hardware is because I want the challenge of working with limits (oh, and as I said "to use live", to try and get away from using a laptop)... but one kit is just too limiting.kritikon wrote: ↑Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:18 pm I'm pretty sure the SR16 plays whole songs...all drum machines at that level did. Many of them you had the option of playing individual patterns and manually changing them on the fly, or simply preprogramming a whole song that plays on one press.
I used to use a Roland R8 and they were pretty flexible...I was surprised at what detail you could get in there when you really delved around under the surface. But...quite fiddly IMO. R8s were pretty big sellers so there should be quite a few of them around for sale hopefully not at silly prices. I found the base R8 to be more aimed at realistic drum sets rather than electronic, but they did sell extra drumkits, so check what drum sounds are in any 2nd hand one before you buy (although you might still be able to get extra drumkits into them nowadays?). Downside is the learning curve on an R8 is pretty steep compared with an SR16 (IMO) but the detail is way deeper.
The odd times I used an SR16, I preferred their drumset tbh. More up my street, though it was full of all the usual real drums as well.
Only thing I would say is to avoid the temptation to save money and buy up the really cheap ones. You might be able to buy early things like the Roland 606 or equivalent. Don't. They're EXTREMELY limited and are almost toys compared to more modern offerings. At one time their price went up 2nd hand because of silly fads and trends, and the gullible were led to believe they were part of the silver box 303 mythos...those drum machines were awful unless you make a specific style of music. I can make better beats doing my own beatboxing chanting "bum tchakka hiss bum bum click" into a tin can on a piece of string. And I'm in no way a beatboxer.
'90s machines probably have the right balance between price, sounds selection and depth of options.
And I really do like when old drum machines' attempt to make acoustic drum sounds... but then the sound is just completely unconvincing, much like the famous Linn machines.
